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Episode 146

Pathway to purpose: Stories of change

Tribe 8 of Vision 20/20 ended their journey together. On this episode, a few of the cohort share their stories and projects that have emerged and evolved over their last few months together:

These ideas aren't necessarily what people thought they'd be bringing to life. Many are as a result of serendipitous conversations or connections on the program.

They might not be the big vision, but they get us started.

Movement forward is key, and and action brings clarity.

Links

Transcript
Carlos:

We are talking today about, purpose.

Carlos:

Also the, the ways we can help people get to purpose.

Carlos:

And we're gonna be hearing some stories of, alumni from our last Vision 2020 program ate, uh, to share their stories and their journey of how, they've discovered some clarity by working with us over 20 weeks.

Carlos:

But before we kicked that off, we thought we'd set the scene a bit.

Carlos:

We, this morning we were running a, an in-person workshop at Platform nine, which is the coworking space that is our home here in Brighton.

Carlos:

And we were again talking about how we, not only just about purpose, but how we connect purpose to profits.

Carlos:

But the kind of, the, the setting up of that session was really about understanding what purpose meant to each, uh, participant.

Carlos:

and then working from there.

Carlos:

Because it seems it's, it's a big word.

Carlos:

And sometimes it can be a bit of a scary thing to define.

Carlos:

I.

Carlos:

I

Laurence:

well, like you said, it's, it's a big word, isn't it?

Laurence:

Purpose.

Laurence:

And some of the prompts we set people this morning were to, in some ways open up to purpose rather than try and write a purpose statement.

Laurence:

and there was this idea of the difference between being certain about something, like filling out a business plan or filling out a form or writing a mission statement or a purpose statement versus asking some questions, which open us up to what purpose means to us.

Laurence:

And it was really interesting, I think.

Laurence:

So we went around, we asked people what does purpose mean to them?

Laurence:

I think we had about 10 people there.

Laurence:

And it was really interesting just the breadth of answers to that question.

Laurence:

I found it really useful to hear people talk about purpose on an individual level, on the internal level, talking about.

Laurence:

What does purpose mean to me in terms of the people I, support?

Laurence:

What does it mean to me on, on a personal level in terms of my story or, maybe elements of my backstory in terms of how that impacts what I do now?

Laurence:

And then purpose on the bigger level.

Laurence:

So like impact with a big eye.

Laurence:

What does purpose mean for the world, for the planet, for the problems out there, for the systemic change, all of the things going on in the world that we maybe wanna fix and bringing it back then to them, what's my work to do?

Laurence:

So there might be lots of things that you care about, but there might not be many things you actually feel like you can make a difference around.

Laurence:

And so grounding it in actually, what's my work to do?

Laurence:

What's my, um, little piece, little dent in the world that I wanna make?

Laurence:

And how can I do that in a way that maybe causes ripples and maybe it affects bigger change, but maybe it's just part of a bigger system

Carlos:

Like so many things that we work on, uh, Laurence, you know, one word can mean so many different things to different people.

Carlos:

Whether that is purpose, whether that's meaning, whether that's money, uh, and creating a space where we can just share at least what's in our heads to then get to, uh, some kind of shared reality in a common language and a common way of connecting our different perspectives on a similar, word, whether that's purpose, um, or, or vision.

Carlos:

And I, it was Becky, I think who was reflected at the end, how she was connecting what she was doing now to her earlier life and the things that she was passionate about and things that she was active in.

Carlos:

I think there's something there about coming home to something that was always there.

Carlos:

and that feeling, getting that sense.

Carlos:

And ultimately for me, there's a defining purpose as a, as a direction, as a definition of what you're supposed to do.

Carlos:

But then also this aspect of it is being a feeling mm-Hmm.

Carlos:

Of like, I know exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.

Carlos:

And so there's a real, I think a sense of presence that can come from feeling purpose, uh, and how that helps you filter out the noise from the noise.

Carlos:

All, you know, all the things that you could be doing and maybe you should be doing, but being able to commit to what you're doing right now because it is aligned to this thing called purpose, whatever that means to you.

Carlos:

I think ultimately as well with the, with the program, what I've learned just by, working through it over these past eight tribes, how to make it personal rather than, you know, you're talking about pur purpose with a big P, which can feel like out there big, sometimes quite complex and in, uh, and intractable, and then feeling powerless to do

Carlos:

anything about it because how am I gonna affect that thing over there rather than finding, so what, how, what is it about my own life and experience that Connects to that?

Carlos:

And then how do I use that?

Carlos:

And maybe what's happening around me and helping there that can then also have ripple effects like you were saying before.

Laurence:

and also what's sustainable for ourselves, like you said.

Laurence:

So like, what is enough?

Laurence:

We were talking about this too, in terms of being comfortable with what, even just what.

Laurence:

A day looks like, like I've done enough today.

Laurence:

I feel good about today.

Laurence:

There's always more to do.

Laurence:

There's always more people to help.

Laurence:

There's always a bigger mission to strive for.

Laurence:

Um, but just feeling that in some ways inner piece that you can walk away from what you've done today and just put the whatever down, laptop, pen, paper and feel like, I've done a good job today and tomorrow's another day, and I move on.

Laurence:

Not to sort of just always feeling like there's never enough and never enough time.

Laurence:

There's never enough people to help and that in my experience just doesn't last because you run outta steam.

Laurence:

So looking at what's sustainable for you and also what feels exciting and fun, and how do you tie this bigger purpose into your need to create or to connect or to, to have freedom, you know, these personal needs that.

Laurence:

I think could connect to the needs of others or to the world too.

Laurence:

So I found it useful.

Laurence:

Even just doing the exercise ourselves.

Laurence:

We did it individually once we were helping others do it, I found it really useful just to reconnect to what I thought was a big problem in the world, which is just a, a lack of connection.

Laurence:

And not just connection to others, but connection to ourselves, connection to our ideas, connection to, um, to meaningful work, connection to nature.

Laurence:

So these things remind me of why I do, and we do what we do, which is to help people reconnect to those things.

Laurence:

and it sounds so simple, but it doesn't mean it's easy to do.

Laurence:

Hence, I think community becomes important.

Laurence:

Um, hence we run small groups to help people explore this stuff, and that often brings up serendipitous ideas, sometimes reflections from others that go, Ooh, have you thought about doing that?

Laurence:

I've heard your story here.

Laurence:

You mentioned this.

Laurence:

Like, that's amazing.

Laurence:

You should talk about that more.

Laurence:

You know, these are things that we hear a lot, and I'm sure through the stories we'll.

Laurence:

These little light bulbs that go off and insights that come from others set us on a slightly different path, but it's not a path that was less us.

Laurence:

I think it's just, it was always there, like you said.

Carlos:

Okay So what we're gonna do is we're gonna bring everyone on stage, uh, and give them an opportunity, to just share a bit about their experiences.

Carlos:

. The, one of the, the first modules, the, the kind of, the first part of the program is about understanding how we can define purpose for ourselves.

Carlos:

And we have this exercise of creating what we call the purpose playbook and using that as the first step of this inside out journey.

Carlos:

So that rather than just jumping onto the product and the business and customers and all that stuff around business, how do we bring it back to ourselves in terms of what, what's gonna light us up?

Carlos:

So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna maybe kick up Debbie, uh, maybe invite you on, share a little bit about yourself, um, the work you do, however you wanna describe it.

Carlos:

Uh, and yeah, your, your reflections of what it's been like.

Debbie:

Uh, yeah.

Debbie:

Well thank, first of all, thank you so much for having us along I am, I'm joining from my hometown of Belfast today, which feels really lovely.

Debbie:

Um, and.

Debbie:

For me, it feels a really fitting place to be talking about purpose because I think purpose is something that has been alive with me like my whole life.

Debbie:

I've really, I've always really relate to that, that feeling of purpose that you described Carlos, like it's always been this sort of niggle inside of me.

Debbie:

and so in terms of where I was when the program started, I, I've been working as a coach for the last few years and my work is centered around supporting other entrepreneurial moms in like the very real juggle of life and work and little people and trying to make that all fit together in a way that feels good.

Debbie:

Um, but I think as my own kids are getting out of that like super hands-on stage.

Debbie:

I was really noticing like some headspace opening up for me.

Debbie:

And as that occurred I was, dare I say it, starting to miss elements of like my previous corporate life, which I know might be shocking.

Debbie:

but I think there, the type of work I did was really different.

Debbie:

So whereas my coaching has, uh, like a deeply relational aspect to it.

Debbie:

Um, previously I worked as a geophysicist and there my work was, it was, you know, very technical.

Debbie:

It was based on like numbers and data and logic and I guess solving puzzles posed by nature.

Debbie:

And I was really craving a way to like bring some of that back into what I've, what I'm doing now.

Debbie:

I.

Debbie:

I couldn't really see a way to make that happen.

Debbie:

So I dunno, I felt like I'd come, you know, if I imagine a pendulum, I imagine I'd come from one side of a pendulum and like swung to the other side where one is like logic and data and structure and the other being this very relational aspect.

Debbie:

And I think I was coming thinking like I had to make a choice as to like which side of the pendulum I wanted to be on.

Debbie:

And what the program really supported me with was finding that middle grind.

Debbie:

and it feel like it, it feels so good.

Debbie:

Like for me, I know it's the right thing because I can, I notice that little niggle is, is seeded for now at least.

Debbie:

Um, but yeah, it's been so helpful.

Debbie:

I think for me, the real thing that I have benefited from on the program is the balance of structure and space.

Debbie:

So there's been enough structure there to like, help me investigate and explore like the same theme, but from lots of different angles.

Debbie:

and at the same time, there's like this space then to let things emerge and grow and flourish.

Debbie:

and for me, that feels really fitting.

Debbie:

Then also for like what I've, I've come up with.

Debbie:

So I'm starting a regenerative business starter pack.

Debbie:

yeah, supporting people with like the practicalities of how to build a business that gives back more than it takes.

Ian:

Hello everybody.

Ian:

uh, and, uh, thanks again for the invite,, especially to those people that I haven't kind of encountered before.

Ian:

There's a few on the, in the bottom there.

Ian:

So, uh, my name's Ian.

Ian:

Uh, I was in, uh, buddy group 'cause the, the, the whole thing is obviously, as you probably know, uh, there's kind of little subgroups and, and Debbie was in my subgroup.

Ian:

And, uh, one of my favorite memories of the course is actually, being on a little, um, uh, session with her.

Ian:

I think it was Carlos and a couple of others.

Ian:

And I was wandering around the park.

Ian:

Uh, listening to her and giving feedback on her kind of thinking.

Ian:

And it was great.

Ian:

It was just a lovely, lovely moment.

Ian:

So, you guys started talking about purpose and I, I still struggle with that word, but I do have an intent, which I've managed to kind of hone through the course.

Ian:

And that intent is about helping people develop much better intuition about their market and therefore how they can make better decisions about that.

Ian:

And I, I specialize in a particular sector, which is kind of relatively small firms, 10 to 50 people, financial services, tech, that kind of thing.

Ian:

So that's kind of where I'm coming from.

Ian:

what I'd like to do is, can I, I'll tell a quick story, which is why I tell my mates when they say what's got, what's this thing you're doing?

Ian:

You're banging you, you're all over LinkedIn.

Ian:

Now what's going on?

Ian:

And this isn't like professional people are doing, this is my.

Ian:

I'm on this course um, and I request a, uh, quick a coaching session with one of the leaders, Carlos, and I'm on with Carlos, and Carlos is great, and I'm wandering away about this stuff, and I can just send this, there's this little bat squeak of impatience on, uh, on, on Carlos's face, Twitch there.

Ian:

And he said, I know that.

Ian:

should we do the 20 minute version of the 20 week course?

Ian:

And I went, oh, yes, I think that's good.

Ian:

And he said, okay, so what's your whatcha?

Ian:

Are you really, really good at?

Ian:

What's your superpower?

Ian:

I went, okay.

Ian:

Um, I'm really, really good at going into quite relatively small firms, speaking to 10 of their clients, coming back and saying, this is the live of land.

Ian:

This is what we, what you could do.

Ian:

And color goes.

Ian:

Okay, so how are you gonna teach that?

Ian:

That was it.

Ian:

Okay.

Ian:

and, it opened a kind of filing box, a filing drawing in my mind.

Ian:

And in that box was a, an encounter I'd had about 2, 3, 2 years back where I had been pitching for, um, a piece of business with one of these kind of small firms.

Ian:

It was a tech platform.

Ian:

And they said could you come in next week?

Ian:

Because our chairman and chair person and investor, main investor is here.

Ian:

So I came along to that meeting and she said I would really like you to work with these guys, but can you teach them something of what you do so that they can develop better intuition?

Ian:

And so I did that piece of work and I did it okay.

Ian:

but what I began to realize through this process realized that active, there's a system for doing this.

Ian:

There's a system for actually understanding clients, making that a leadership job and then making sense of that and making a good decision about that.

Carlos:

And it sounds like you've made some progress on that now and, um, there's some next steps involved.

Ian:

Oh yeah, I've got 200% ROI on the course so far.

Ian:

That's alright.

Ian:

Now

Laurence:

see, we, we promised immediate results and, uh, seven steps of success.

Ian:

But I think it's, it's less IIJ IIJ but only slightly but it's, it's about, you know, your developing your confidence to get out there again.

Ian:

And, and throw it around.

Ian:

And this came, this came through just deliberately going and talking to people about this direction.

Ian:

Um, and if you sit in your room, nobody's gonna notice.

Ian:

Svetlana said something amazing, but it was about her, from the dance world that she inhabits, which is, if you're gonna make a move, you need to have a witness.

Laurence:

Exactly.

Ian:

And the early witnesses of my move, and for I think everyone else has been this, this, this, this team.

Carlos:

What I appreciated your process is how you were able to just, Present something, something for us to look at and work with and get a feel for whether that was something on a, being able to have some kind of mind map, some wave, um, some words, some pictures, and then the landing page, early stage of it, some documents.

Carlos:

It's that working out loud process that you embraced.

Carlos:

I think a helped me understand your work a lot better.

Carlos:

But I assume is also part of your process of getting clarity by making

Ian:

exactly.

Ian:

Just keeping editing.

Ian:

Always be editing.

Laurence:

Well, there's something about sometimes we can't see what's right in front of us.

Laurence:

We have a process or a way of doing things or, um, a system that maybe seems obvious to us 'cause of years of iteration.

Laurence:

But then when someone says something like, this could work as a, a tool to teach others the same, then it becomes powerful.

Laurence:

Exactly.

Carlos:

Exactly.

Carlos:

Thank you very much.

Carlos:

Really appreciate that.

Carlos:

Tiana, over to you.

Tatjana:

I think for me, I, I've had my own, uh, business for the past three years and.

Tatjana:

uh, have been very blessed to be very busy and, you know, so wonderful things going on, but also being very much in delivery all the time.

Tatjana:

And I was finding that because I'm a solar, uh, entrepreneur, that I was, I was losing traction in terms of my own ideas.

Tatjana:

Um, I wasn't taking time to think about what I wanted to do going forward or build product or, or things like that.

Tatjana:

and I was really good at, um, you know, having other people dream about what they wanted to do.

Tatjana:

But every time it was about me, I was sort of going, okay, one more delivery or one more thing.

Tatjana:

and then just not getting to it.

Tatjana:

So, uh, one of the earliest conversations with Laurence was, Laurence asked me, you know, what do you, what do you want from this?

Tatjana:

And, and I, I remember saying, you know, I want to take a stand.

Tatjana:

I want to put myself in the center of it because I have some sense of what I'm here to do.

Tatjana:

but I need time to figure out what that is and how I speak about it.

Tatjana:

so for me, the purpose piece has been more of a, a movement towards something.

Tatjana:

it, it's still evolving for me, but what's been fantastic for me has just been the cadence of, of weekly calls and, you know, getting caught up in work and people actually caring about, Hey, are you okay?

Tatjana:

Are you gonna make the call?

Tatjana:

that there's a recording of the call afterwards, you know, go check it out.

Tatjana:

That there are people that, the, the whole tribe eight and certainly my, uh, my body group.

Tatjana:

It's like one big, you know, family.

Tatjana:

Uh, it's, it's like love abound.

Tatjana:

and that's been wonderful.

Tatjana:

And, and I think to what you spoke about before, that you have an idea or you have an inclination or a sense of something and someone says, Hey, have you tried this?

Tatjana:

and I think the most transformational to me has been, I'm in coaching and, and leadership development and, and kind of organizational culture work.

Tatjana:

And I, I'm used to sort of setting the stage and holding space for others and, and not necessarily doing that for myself.

Tatjana:

So the most, high pulse inducing exercise of this whole thing has been one post for seven per day for seven days.

Tatjana:

literally like 200, like, and then pressing the button.

Tatjana:

And, and then over the days realizing that people are emailing me, I'm getting messages, like 2000 people checked out the post.

Tatjana:

I'm getting people that I have not necessarily connected with saying, Hey, I'd love to talk to you about this.

Tatjana:

and, you know, whether something comes of that or not, this is really not the point.

Tatjana:

The point is that, okay, there was something there.

Tatjana:

I was meant to maybe ask the question or share something.

Tatjana:

Um.

Tatjana:

And, and this also came at a time last year, this course that I was really busy.

Tatjana:

and I don't know that I would be as excited about 24 as I am now if it hadn't been for this course.

Tatjana:

and I've got a whole new tribe.

Laurence:

Yay.

Laurence:

New playmates.

Carlos:

Thank you, Tatjana.

Carlos:

Um, but I'm curious as well, maybe to throw it out to the group for now.

Carlos:

This idea of doing something your on your own versus doing it as a group and what your, impressions of it before.

Carlos:

You know what, what your thoughts were about, you know, doing group work and what that meant versus what it feels like now and how you've experienced it.

Debbie:

Yeah.

Debbie:

I'll, I'll I kick off 'cause it's so, something that I find super, super valuable was being able to get a glimpse into the internal world of other people.

Debbie:

because I know for me, when I'm, when I'm starting something new, it feel, yeah, it feels scary and it feels vulnerable and there's a lot of uncertainty there about how it will land with people, whether it's the right thing.

Debbie:

yeah, that can really like, can really hold me back.

Laurence:

Mm.

Debbie:

But when I hear other people sharing, you know, the same or similar struggles and resistance, and I look at them and think, well, of course you can do it, of course you can.

Debbie:

And then I see them go out there and do it.

Debbie:

I find it.

Debbie:

So that's so inspiring and so motivating.

Debbie:

' cause I think, okay, well you know, if they're there doing it, then maybe I can do it as well.

Debbie:

And there's that real, real sense of connection and togetherness and you know, we're all in it together.

Laurence:

I love that sort of idea of yeah.

Laurence:

Witnessing other people's inner worlds.

Laurence:

'cause it's, uh, I think we could, uh, so many, we can all just think it is just us battling with these things of whether it was self-doubt or inner critic or imposter syndrome or fear of being visible, fear of putting our heart on the line and putting our ideas out there.

Laurence:

These are all things we come across, but everyone still thinks that other people have got it together 'cause they look so assured.

Laurence:

You know, even the content challenge, I, I dunno if you all found this, everyone just came across it eloquently and so considered and so clear, but no one felt like that.

Debbie:

Yeah.

Carlos:

George, I'd like to invite you to share your story.

Georgina:

it's Really interesting actually because I was, um, thinking about there's so much stuff I've got to say about this program and, you know, when you've got too much things to say and they might just all come out like a big mass, so succinctly.

Georgina:

I think where it differs to other programs is that there's a depth to it, and I think that's the most powerful thing of all of it because I, I quite like.

Georgina:

Sum it up in three words or sum it up in one word.

Georgina:

And for me, if I sum it up, it's depth.

Georgina:

It's the deep, the depth that it takes you.

Georgina:

And it's really quite interesting because that's pretty much where my, my idea has gone because, it's given me the tools, the understanding, the support, the encouragement, The opening, to go deeper.

Georgina:

In order for us to go that deep, we need to have permission to do so, and we also need to be held there as well because it's vulnerable.

Georgina:

Um, Lorin will be able to definitely say that I have had some bratty moments and that them sort of like moments where I'm like, oh, I can't do this.

Georgina:

It's too hard.

Georgina:

That kinda stuff because it takes you to, like, I've seen my 17-year-old self along this journey and it takes me to these sort of deeper parts of myself and that in a child, that person that little part of me that wants joy and fun and doesn't want to be sort of setting up another business, which I was really in danger of doing.

Georgina:

Um, so it's really interesting.

Georgina:

For me, it's about depth and that's what is given me.

Georgina:

I think where, um, someone, if, if someone's thinking about doing this, I wouldn't say it's going to be an easy journey.

Georgina:

If you don't wanna go deep, because it, you're not gonna get what your, I don't think You're not gonna get the best out of it unless you go like, jump in.

Georgina:

Dive in really.

Laurence:

They can throw their toys out the pram.

Georgina:

Yeah.

Georgina:

Yeah.

Georgina:

They can have a tantrum.

Georgina:

yeah, because it's hard.

Georgina:

It is hard, but like, especially if you're gonna be doing something on your own, if you're an entrepreneur.

Georgina:

And you want to create something like the other one that wakes up with you every day.

Georgina:

Do you know?

Georgina:

So you've gotta go deep, you've gotta, uh, address all the parts of you.

Georgina:

' cause otherwise you can't create great things.

Georgina:

So I feel like I've shredded a skin, maybe several skins.

Carlos:

Wow.

Carlos:

Thank you Georgina.

Carlos:

I just disturbed by the idea of waking up with me

Carlos:

around

Laurence:

again.

Carlos:

Oh, love it.

Caro:

For me, the journey started at summer camp because I came to you guys in September and I met Lana in the car from the Netherlands to, uh, the uk.

Caro:

And there was a little spark and I was like, oh wait, this is really interesting.

Caro:

And, uh, I was, I was really interested in her as a conversation partner.

Caro:

And then she mentioned Vision 2020.

Caro:

I was like, okay, okay.

Caro:

Am I ready to go this deep?

Caro:

So same to what George said, like it's an investment you want to make for yourself.

Caro:

not only in time, but also in the developing of whatever is inside you.

Caro:

What emerges, as Lana says, what is alive in you?

Caro:

There were so many nice new things that I can add to my vocabulary.

Caro:

Vocabulary that is not only, on a, talking level, but also on a deeper connection from like your gut feel to gut feel or your heart to your hearts.

Caro:

So this is the word that I used in the beginning.

Caro:

I allowed myself to, uh, take this journey with you guys and it's became a real adventure.

Caro:

And So happy I didn't, I had no idea this would, this would, this would be the outcome.

Caro:

It's much more than I've dreamed of.

Caro:

And that's also what I said to myself.

Caro:

I hope I will come out after 20 weeks and then I can surprise myself with whatever comes along.

Caro:

And yeah, it's also about taking the time to reflect and what's already there and also the feeling that I can harvest a lot of what I've been doing in the last five years, like on a slow pace or maybe in the background or didn't, realizing it was something that I could use today and moving forward into the future.

Carlos:

Thank you very much, Kyra.

Carlos:

I think I wanted to maybe follow up on some of this in terms of the kind of emergent aspect of this work.

Carlos:

I think it was Debbie who talked about structure and space.

Carlos:

We, we, we present a curriculum of sorts to give a sense of direction and a movement towards somewhere, but we've also witnessed that part of this journey takes in all sorts of different directions, which can feel un a bit scary and uncertain for certain people.

Carlos:

And I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about your experience of that, whether that was, it did feel destabilizing, but whether there was anything that you got from taking that a bit of more of a windy road along this journey.

Carlos:

Um,

Georgina:

I think if you are doing it alone, it would be a bit more scary, but because you've got lots of people going, like changing ideas all the time, especially in our group, um, Sophie, who is

Laurence:

a horse to mention, Sophie is probably listening in.

Georgina:

Yeah, I just, in my head, she's always on a horse because she's always on the move and just like the ideas that she'd have all the time and, and because it's such an environment where everyone is changing, evolving, there's.

Georgina:

You are not fixed to anything.

Georgina:

So you are a little bit more adventurous and a little bit more curious, and also a little less scared, like fear wasn't really on the table, which is a really nice thing to not even talk about it, to just go, what about this?

Georgina:

This is good.

Georgina:

Yeah.

Georgina:

That's a, that a brilliant idea because you've got so many people on your team and that's brilliant because you can just encourage each other and then go down this road and you're like, oh.

Georgina:

I said, oh, how I got you.

Georgina:

But it's pretty good.

Georgina:

So it's just for, for us, it was more to do with that.

Georgina:

It wasn't scary.

Georgina:

It was, um, just a part of the process really.

Georgina:

And a part of, the, the way that we were working together.

Caro:

It's the cheerleading parts that you have the cheerleaders around you that are very close and because they see you have this process of, of opening up and becoming vulnerable and sharing the parts of you that weren't being shown before, and that they're, they're all like, yeah, go for it.

Caro:

Okay, this is your thing.

Caro:

And then you're like, oh, okay, okay, okay.

Caro:

This is my thing.

Caro:

I, I believe in myself too now.

Caro:

And so it helps with the self-doubt and with the, uh, critic, the inner critic that is like, who are you to do this?

Caro:

Or, who's waiting for this?

Caro:

And then 20 people are saying, go for it.

Caro:

It's amazing.

Caro:

uh, this is your part.

Caro:

And then you're like, oh, okay, okay.

Caro:

I can do this now.

Caro:

And that's really amazing, especially in the body group when you're more so, it's, it's closer.

Caro:

You have the one-on-one, so you also get a little bit, little bit deeper in the connection that you have with the person to your body group.

Debbie:

yeah, I was just gonna say that Tructure in space really helped me, like release something.

Debbie:

Like I've noticed this real shift in how I feel about, like, the need to have everything figured out.

Debbie:

Like I'm definitely somebody who likes a plan.

Debbie:

And I think at the start of the program, there was part of me that was like, right, this is the opportunity to like, get it all figured out, get it all laid down on taper.

Debbie:

And actually what I've come away with is this real level of comfort at not having it figured out at all.

Debbie:

And, that real experimental mindset actually, like my maybe part of my scientific background, like this experimenting and seeing how things go and letting it evolve.

Debbie:

Naturally and on its own.

Laurence:

we were talking to someone this morning about, they were talking about how they measure impact in their organization and how it's easy, it's easy to measure money, isn't it?

Laurence:

Because it's a number, right?

Laurence:

And it's impact.

Laurence:

They were trying to find a, a sort of standard way to measure impact across every organization, which I get.

Laurence:

But I was thinking we had, we struggled with this, but you made me realize there's something about how comfortable you are about uncertainty, how comfortable you are about, um, your role in the worlds, how excited you are about the future as well.

Laurence:

Like how hopeful do you feel about the future versus, um, if you just get sucked into the news or sucked into your own head, or just stay with the way of doing things at the moment.

Laurence:

So those metrics for me are actually maybe seemingly quite sort of vague or intangible, but actually super important I think in terms of just the energy we have to do things in the world or to, to do our bit in the world.

Debbie:

Yeah.

Debbie:

And I think even more than the comfort there's, for me, it really, I notice it bringing this real depth and like more meaning to it as well in the like messy complexity.

Debbie:

There's, there's more depth and meaning

Tatjana:

Yeah, I was just thinking, about the, the piece, um, you know, the space and the structure.

Tatjana:

I think one of the things that's been really wonderful is that there's been a real, both both care and compassion in, um, in the group that, you know, if, if someone's been struggling with one of the exercises or one of the documents, there's just been a whole raft of people saying, Hey, you know, I'm happy to spend some one-to-one time with you.

Tatjana:

You know, do you need to chat on this?

Tatjana:

And, So, so this sense of being held through a, a process that is really deep, has, has been incredible.

Tatjana:

And also, I think one thing that's certainly been something that I've thought about is that, the approach has also been really playful.

Tatjana:

Like, oh, okay.

Tatjana:

So, um, you know, if it's not what we wanna do forever, then let's try it out.

Tatjana:

See if it works.

Tatjana:

You know, Debbie, you are talking to it as well, this experimentation of what's the worst thing that can happen?

Tatjana:

Nobody cares, right?

Tatjana:

Nobody wants to do it.

Tatjana:

Okay.

Tatjana:

We'll do something else.

Ian:

I'd echo that.

Ian:

very much Tatjana, I'm, um, I suspect a little bit like you.

Ian:

I'm someone who, who's, feels it quite important to get things right all the time and, uh, the freedom and permission just to kind of like, fuck around for a while and try it out.

Ian:

It's been great.

Carlos:

I think we're gonna add that to the website.

Carlos:

Ian, um, funny, funny.

Carlos:

You have permission to fuck around for a while.

Laurence:

Cool.

Laurence:

They made, they made me do it.

Laurence:

It's like content.

Laurence:

They told me to do it.

Laurence:

That's why I'm doing it.

Carlos:

Uh, before we draw to a close, I had a conversation this morning around the difference between doing something in person and online.

Carlos:

Um, and we'd just come back from running a workshop, a, uh, a coworking space nearby.

Carlos:

Uh, and the person, actually, Diana, who's, um, she recently done an online session.

Carlos:

She was just asking me, just reflecting about what's, what's the, what's the difference, you know, how, how do you feel?

Carlos:

Which is better nearly with the kind of the question.

Carlos:

And it made me think about, you know, how people think about, oh, just doing Zoom calls every week and being online all the time.

Carlos:

What does that mean?

Carlos:

How does that feel?

Carlos:

I'd just be curious to, you know, get a feel for you guys about what, what that experience was in terms of Yeah.

Carlos:

Your relationship to Zoom before and after

Tatjana:

I think for me, I mean, I work virtually a lot.

Tatjana:

Uh, it hasn't felt that virtual.

Tatjana:

It has felt like a real room.

Tatjana:

Uh, uh, you know, apart from the fact that I'm longing to hug everybody and I wanna do that in some camp, it has not felt like something virtual or distant at all.

Georgina:

um, I think there's, there's a couple of factors why, um, and, and it's hard for me because I have virtually met Lorin before, so I've, I've met a, a couple of people before, but not everyone, However, the, uh, the WhatsApp group connected to it as well.

Georgina:

That's really useful, that keeps sort of alive and, and the fact that we all, like everyone's got their videos on, it's not just microphone, it's not just sort of like speaking.

Georgina:

And I think it's because there's, there's, it's always mixing up.

Georgina:

It's always changing, so it doesn't feel, uh, prescriptive and it also doesn't feel very, um, passive.

Georgina:

It's very act, it's very interactive.

Georgina:

So because of that, you don't feel like you're just sort of watching a course really, and standing you're, you're a by stander really.

Ian:

Carlos.

Ian:

Carlos, is there an opportunity to actually see each other, in real life coming up in September?

Carlos:

Oh, I, there may be, there may be, there may be

Ian:

in a field.

Ian:

You won't, you won't, you weren't going towards that, were you with your question?

Ian:

No, I just, maybe there were a place.

Ian:

yeah, I've missed a bit.

Ian:

I know I took a couple trips down to Brighton to see, see folks and that kind of thing where it all seems to happen anyway.

Ian:

and yeah, I, I agree.

Ian:

Uh, George, the, the WhatsApp's been a kind of like, uh, as a place to bitch about the tutors as much as anything else.

Laurence:

That's the best bit, isn't it?

Laurence:

That's the best bit.

Carlos:

All your messages are encrypted, end to end, so none of us.

Debbie:

How about you, Debbie?

Debbie:

Um, so I think, like from a personal perspective, I live in Aberdeen.

Debbie:

Usually.

Debbie:

And so, you know, I think the fact that it's online allows me to participate in a way that I couldn't otherwise.

Debbie:

and I think that applies for others in the group as well.

Debbie:

So I think one of the real benefits of it being online is that it allows more diversity in terms of where people are coming from, like the types of backgrounds people bring with them.

Debbie:

like different cultural backgrounds.

Debbie:

And like, I think the, the group really benefits from that.

Debbie:

and I also think then it being online allows it to be a longer program.

Debbie:

And I really appreciated being able to, you know, have our buddy group call every week, but then go back in straight away, go back into my day to day life and have that integration time.

Debbie:

so for me that really helped things percolate where I had this like real like ins inspiration or moment of insight, and then I could like let that soak for a week as I went about normal things.

Debbie:

And, um, yeah, that brought a lot of value for me.

Carlos:

Awesome.

Carlos:

when Ian was mentioning before about being on a walk in the park while being on a.

Carlos:

I think, yeah, I'd love to do more calls like that where you can be just not even like sometimes on Zoom, it does feel a bit formal 'cause your squares and sat on the desk.

Carlos:

But to be able to be walking around and have that energy, um, that movement energy, that the technology that allows us these days so online doesn't have to feel like squares on a square.

Carlos:

It can feel like we can be windows and tv, each other's worlds.

Carlos:

and also be moving while we're working.

Carlos:

So, yeah.

Carlos:

Thank you.

Carlos:

Thank you very much everyone.

Carlos:

Um, yeah, Laurence, any final thoughts before we, um, put a close to this particularly tumultuous technical?

Carlos:

Oh yeah.

Laurence:

Well I was just thinking don't go on a walk when you're doing a crowd cast.

Laurence:

'cause that would just add more jeopardy to this, uh, experience.

Laurence:

Um, I, no, it's just really heartwarming to hear everyone's story really.

Laurence:

And to, I think, well, a, you feel like.

Laurence:

Is working.

Laurence:

And this always nice to feel like what you're doing is working.

Laurence:

Um, and it can feel, you know, when you were talking about bitching about the tutors, I was thinking, well, we've got our staff room, but we talk about you every week.

Laurence:

It's all good stuff.

Laurence:

Exactly.

Laurence:

but having, yeah, me, Carlos, and Lana and Lana can't join us today, unfortunately.

Laurence:

Um, we all really care about this and we want everyone to progress and we want everyone to really find what they need from it and also find others to share this journey with.

Laurence:

And that's a big part of this.

Laurence:

So whilst it's a 20 week program, it, we always say it's the end, not the beginning, because you're now part of this community.

Laurence:

And so there's so many other people like you all that are amazing that we believe in and we wanna connect.

Laurence:

And as you've all shown, that serendipity pot that happens when you bring great people together, there's more of that out there.

Laurence:

So yeah, that's what's exciting me is seeing what happens next.

Laurence:

Because you've all got your ideas, you've all got your first stepping stone on this path.

Laurence:

Who knows what will be six months a year, but I'm sure it'll be, it'll be good.

Laurence:

So yeah, I'm finding it, uh, energizing to hear these stories.

Carlos:

no, I, I'm grateful for your kind words about the program and how you benefited it from it, but we're also grateful for, for you all, for the energy you bring, the, the feeling of friendship, I think we get from this, um, the feeling of connection.

Carlos:

One of the, in the early days we should talk about, you know, your dream client.

Carlos:

And one of the criteria is, would you, would you take a road trip with them?

Carlos:

Could you spend a few hours in a car with these people?

Carlos:

And I would confidently say, all of you're more than happy, spend a journey talking about no call

Laurence:

drive.

Laurence:

No, you won't wanna be in that car.

Laurence:

Can I just say he's been inspired by his Italian father?

Laurence:

That's all I'll say.

Carlos:

Bit of excitement, you know, so adds to the journey.

Carlos:

Um, but yeah, actually on that, yeah,

Laurence:

on that, when we did the exercise this morning with write down your ideal, um, line, I wrote Creative Barkley doers, and I think you all are that, all of you.

Laurence:

And also so many we could have invited from the cohort to join us.

Laurence:

Like any 20 people we could have brought on would be awesome.

Carlos:

To get truly metaphorical.

Carlos:

It's we're, this has been a road trip together, uh, on this bigger journey.

Carlos:

And yeah, hopefully we'll continue working and, and supporting each other.

Carlos:

Um, looking forward to seeing the fruits of this part.

Carlos:

So thank you everyone.

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